1. Chapter 1

Her family all had the same gaze, topaz and worldly and aged. Like a yellowed book stored far too long within a dusty bookcase.

But there was something different about Leah’s eyes, about the lingering fury that lurked within their depths like a visceral monster waiting to snap on its prey. They were wide and oceanic, swirls of green-gray-amber against a backdrop of sapphire. They made her knees infuriatingly weak in that way Emmett could never quite achieve.

And that night, amongst snarls and degradations and therethatsitdontyoudarestop, she catches the moisture clinging to Leah’s thick lashes. It slides effortlessly along her thumb, trailing down smooth skin and she watches, fascinated, until she loses the droplet.

When it’s over, Leah is the one who won’t meet her gaze.

II.

It’s less angry this time, more urgent and desperate. They’re both grasping at each other, falling through the cracks like sand held too tightly within a fist.